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Dusk Maiden of Amnesia

It was 60 years ago when a girl died in the abandoned school building right behind Seikyou Academy. No one knows why or for what reason. In the present time, among Seikyou’s many school clubs there is one for students interested in the paranormal. What may seem strange is that the founder of the club is this ghost of the girl who died at that same school. She is unable to remember how she died and why she is trapped in limbo. Teiichi Niiya, a freshman who has the ability to see the ghost Yuuko, who haunts him because of this… or is there a different reason why she is lingering around the school? Together they and the other members of the club try to unravel the many eerie mysteries that surround the academy.

The episode opens with Momoe Okonogi, one of the club’s members, investigating the events happening at the school. Around her in that same room paranormal activity is happening without her knowing. Teiichi Niiya walks in and begins to talk to himself. The club then inspects a “haunted” part of the school. Suddenly the episode seems to start up again but this time it is revealed that ghost Yuuko was in the room the entire time.

Example of the difference between the scene that is played twice.

I felt that playing most of the episode over again a second time was a bit repetitive even though it helped to provide an answer for what was causing the paranormal activity. If this continues in the following episodes I might be turned away from this all together. It would have been interesting if we didn’t find out that Yuuko was the source of the suspiciousness till the end of the episode, but that’s just my opinion. Still, there was a bit of humor in the second run through that made it less painful.

One strength was the fact that we already have many questions that need to be answered by the time the series is over. Yuuko’s past is unknown to the entire cast for the time being. Already we have a cast of mostly broad characters with growing backgrounds who have hopefully interesting pasts. As annoying and ignorant as she was, I did want to like Momoe so maybe her character’s image will improve with time.

The opening song, Choir Jail by Suzuki Konomi, is eerie, dark, and has just the right amount of electric guitar instrumentals to fit the theme of a paranormal anime. The quality of the song is almost like something you would hear in an anime movie. Additionally, I like the bright colors of the leaves contrasting with the deep black of Yuuko’s uniform in the animated sequence. These bright colors continue on throughout the episode in generous amounts.

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia has lots of promise, but the way for it to end strong is for the anime to stick to answering important questions, building character backgrounds, and not wasting time with replays of the same scene showing what really happened. For now I give it a temporary score of 7/10.